Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Quick Pick & Project of the Week: Little Blue Truck Sensory Bin

This week I'm wrapping up the current school year, which means many of our projects are quick and easy to set up. We love the book Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle. The Little Blue Truck teaches the Big Dump Truck a good lesson about being kind to others in return for a helping hand.

Little Blue Truck Sensory Bin

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We had a fun idea for an easy sensory bin set up to go with the book. A little over a month ago we created a sensory bin to go with the book In the Tall, Tall Grass and it lead to some fun play.

For this bin we started with a base of birdseed. We haven't used birdseed as a base before, but it was a hit with both kiddos and created a really cool tactile experience while using it. (Allergy note, although we luckily don't need to concern ourselves with nut allergy concerns, I did notice our birdseed contained peanuts. When using any sensory material with kiddos it's important to make sure it's okay for all different types of allergies.)

We also added in some of the animals you can find in the book: a cow, horse, sheep, pig, goat, and frog. (We were missing the duck and chicken.) We also added in a blue truck (of course) and small dump truck.

Both boys found different ways to engage with the bin.

Big Brother worked to recreate the story. He lined up the animals in an order like we saw in the book.

He also liked driving the vehicles around in the birdseed.

Little Brother enjoyed the texture of the birdseed the most. He particularly liked putting the birdseed into the dump truck.

Later he played with the animals in the bin, burying them in the birdseed. He has returned to the bin several times this week.

The animals are made by Schleich (http://www.schleich-s.com/en/US/). We find ours at local stores, hardware stores, and even Tractor Supply (not sure if you have one of those near you. The truck we actually found at a local pharmacy (CVS branch) in their toy department. They have some slightly larger than matchbox cars. Not sure if that helps you, depending on where you are. Thanks for reading!